Chapter 2: Randoa

His quest underway, Kawn and his bother seek out guidance from a wizard who can help them with their charge. While Kawn is seeking guidance things go awry in Ramadaggan.

 

            They arrived in Randoa after riding all day long without incident. They arrived at the Adventurer's Inn in the center of town. The party was tired and needed the sleep desperately as did their horses.

            “Good morning, sir, may I help you with your horses?” said the bellboy at the inn.

            “Yes, take these horses to the stables and if you take good care of them I will leave you a platinum dume for your effort. How does that sound to you boy?” said Kawn to the bellboy as he dismounted.

            “That would be great sir. That would be the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I will treat these horses as if they were the emperor and his entire family!” said the bellboy with a grin that stretched for miles on end. He grabbed the reigns and led the horses toward the stable were there was fresh straw to be put out for the horses along with fresh oats.

            “Watch it boy. Treat my horse well because he will tell me if you did a bad job or a good one. o.k!” said Kawn over his shoulder as he walked in the establishment with his brothers. Kawn approached the check out counter in the inn and paid for six rooms in full. “When your bellboy comes in send him to the Wizard Amon to tell him I seek council with him tomorrow morning” said Kawn to the innkeeper as he wearily walked down the hall to his room for the night. No sooner had he got there and closed the door, he fell into a deep slumber as he hit the soft, silken bed coverings. He awoke the next day at sun up and aroused the rest of the party from their deep slumber. He told them all to go to the dining hall for breakfast.

            When they approached the dining hall they could distinguish the various features of the room. It was a large, rectangular room with a very large rectangular table in the center that looked like it was almost as big as the room itself. On the table were eight place settings laid out plates made of fine china with the edges gilded with ornate silver and gold patterns, cinnamon rolls in equally beautiful bowls, two pitchers of brandy and a pitcher of milk that completed the settings. All of that was laid out on a purple linen tablecloth trimmed with gold, which is a symbol of royalty. The party took their seats and feasted gingerly on the cinnamon rolls and taking big gulps of brandy and milk in between bits and pieces of idle conversation about home life, the quest at hand, and mouthfuls of cinnamon roll. The party ate like savages as they tore big chunks out of the cinnamon rolls and a combination of milk and brandy ran down their faces. As they were eating two people entered the room and filled the other two remaining seats. The party froze and became silent when they noticed the people were in the garb of wizards.

            “You must be the Wizard Amon, I presume.” said Kawn as he swallowed a mouthful of cinnamon roll.

            “Yes, I am Amon the Wizard and this is my apprentice, Roabla the Enchanter. You requested to have council with us. Now what is it that you want?” said the wizard looking at Kawn.

            “Here, this will explain what we need your help for.” said Kawn as he handed the wizard a parchment that contained the parameters of the mission. The Party introduced themselves as the wizard broke the seal and opened the scrolled parchment.

            “Ahaa! I see now. I will send my apprentice Roabla with you to help retrieve the scepter, but in return you must enter the room of stars and retrieve the Rabor emerald which can only be found with the scepter when it is used to open the wall in the room of stars.” stated Amon with a smile stretching across his thin, weathered face.

            “Okay, it is settled then.” said Kawn over his last bite of his cinnamon roll. The rest of the party finished their breakfast and paid their respects to Amon. As soon as Roabla had finished his breakfast the party got up and paid the clerk for the breakfast and the previous nights snacks. The party went to the local armory to get better shields and armor for their journey. Roabla went to the town magic shop to get a few scrolls containing spells, magic wands, blank parchment, numerous other things required for writing and using magic spells. They placed their things in their saddlebags and were ready to leave when Amon burst out of his house running toward Kawn.

            “Let me look at your sword!” said Amon.

            “What? This old thing?!” inquired Kawn.

            “Yes! Hand it over and let me look at it.” said Amon as he took the sword began to examine it. “Humph, just as I thought... this is the lost sword, Dryvinnyu. These symbols mean LOVE, STRENGTH, LUCK, COURAGE, HOPE.  As long as you have all of these you will conquer.” he said as he handed the sword back to Kawn. “May the fates be forever in thy favor!”

            “May the fates forever be in thy favor!” rang the entire party as the left Randoa towards Pelenecki, the Halfling town. Meanwhile, back in Ramadaggan things were going awry. The Northern Forest turned out to be a whole army of Dyjnni forces that were polymorphed into trees and have been slumbering for two thousand years in suspended animation. Once the time seemed right they were awakened by their leader, Letha, Kawn’s wife who was a Dyjnni spy. Ramadaggan’s forces were caught by surprise. Out numbered three to one, they put up a vigorous fight to remain free.

            “I cannot believe that she would do a thing like that. What are we going to tell Kawn? Who would believe that she was a spy for the Dyjnni forces to the north. She seemed to be just a simple housewife. Send Bio to find them after I think of something for him to tell him.” said the Dragon Lord.

            “As you command sire!” said Lao as he set out charge.

            “Status report?” demanded the Dragon Lord as Franklin entered the Hall of Kings.

            “They are attacking from the front, left and right flanks my Lord. It does not look good.” said Franklin as stumbled to the ground clutching his breast. Lao rushed over to Franklin to assist him.

            “I did not ask you if it looked good! How are our forces holding out?” asked the Dragon Lord as he rose to his feet. 

            “They are holding but starting to fail my liege. I dispatched Kawn’s apprentice Raz to find the Brothers Kelvin. They are our only hope now my Lord.” replied Franklin as he coughed up some blood.

            “I will take him to the infirmary my Lord.” said Lao as he helped Franklin to his feet.

            “Very well Lao. Let us pray the Brothers Kelvin arrive in our hour of need.” said the Dragon Lord as he slumped back into his throne.

            “They will my Lord, They are only half a day ride away and should be here by morning.” interjected Franklin trying to cheer the king up. “Besides, Raz swore an oath on his life that he would get them and return in time.”

            “Get thee well my friend.” said the Dragon Lord as Lao and Franklin exited the Hall of Kings towards the infirmary. “My God, Please lend me the strength to stand victorious O’lord. Let my enemies come to a standstill so that reinforcements can arrive.”

            “There he is! Let’s get him!” echoed a voice from down the hall as a small group of Dyjnni soldiers infiltrated the Hall of Kings.

            “Lord, Help me stand victorious” said the Dragon Lord as he drew his sword and awaited the coming onslaught.

            “Death to the King!” jeered one soldier as he struck at the Dragon Lord only to find it deflected. The Dragon Lord’s lightning quick reflexes allowed him to decapitate the soldier that struck at him, stab another in the throat and cut the sword hand off the one of the remaining soldiers. The last simply turned around and fled.

            “I need to be with my men so their morale does not fail me.” said the Dragon Lord as he charged off down the hall after the fleeing soldier and towards the battle raging outside.

            “Look, It’s the King!” said one soldier. “Let us not fail him in his hour of need!” shouted another soldier as the Dragon Lord joined the ranks of fighting soldiers. The Dyjnni forces slowed their attacks as the dual suns set and the night sky was filled with a violet hue from Juma, the largest of their three moons. God had lent the Dragon Lord a hand since Juma was in front of the other moons the Dyjnni forces could not help but cease their attacks for the duration of the night since they cannot see to well in the violet-lit sky.

            “Thank you God!” said the Dragon Lord in a silent prayer as the Dyjnni forces stopped their ground attack and started pelting the city walls again with flaming balls of pitch cover rocks. The Dragon Lord grabbed a soldier by the arm and said “Take ten men with you to locate and destroy their catapults before the walls give in.”

            “Yes my Lord! I shall not fail you!” shouted the soldier as he quickly turned to select the ten soldiers to accompany him. With a simple gesture the ten soldiers left with him to carry out their orders.

            The forces of Ramadaggan quickly over took the straggling Dyjnni forces that could not find their way to camp. All of the sudden a loud horn blew and the Dyjnni forces stopped pelting the city walls from afar. The Dragon Lord puzzled by their sudden halt remembered a book in his library. It was a history book. He remembered how it told of the disappearance of three legions of Dyjnni forces that suddenly vanished two thousand years ago and how their castle quickly fell into ruination. It also told a story of Juma, The first and only Lord of all Effreiti, how he carried the scepter of Cosiximus Laxitus and ruled until the time the Dyjnni forces disappeared. The Dragon Lord grabbed another soldier by the arm. “Set up fire watch and order all remaining men to sleep. They will need their rest for the morning when the Dyjnni forces resume their attacks. Take a head count as well. I want every soldier accounted for. Report to me in the library once completed.” said the Dragon Lord as he headed towards the stairs.

            “Yes, my liege!” replied the soldier with a salute and turned to carry out the orders.  

            Once the watch was set, the soldier reported to the Dragon Lord with the details of the battle. The news was not that good but at least the soldiers that he sent out to destroy the Dyjnni catapults returned mission successful. Once the rest of the soldiers were sleeping the night crept through and dawn approached as the dual suns started to rise from their rest on the horizon. The Dragon Lord was awakened from his sleep by Raz who was reporting for duty along with the Brothers Kelvin.

            “It pleases me to see that you were successful in gaining the aid of the Brothers Kelvin, Raz.” stated the Dragon Lord as he rose to meet them. Two lightning bolts thundered to the ground five feet from the throne of the Dragon Lord and two bodies materialized as the bolts dissipated.

            “We came because of Kawn sire. We are in his debt and came to honor our promise to assist him in any way we can.” uttered Rolfe Kelvin the eldest of the two. “Once we are finished here we will continue on to find the Renduits.”

            “Very well.” replied the Dragon Lord as the battle proceeded to commence once again. “We are still out number two to one. Can you deal with those odds?”

            “Of course we can. We are the Brothers Kelvin!” shouted Rolfe in a barbaric tone. He turned to his brother who gave a nod and with that they preceded to the front line of the battle.

            “Sire, you must watch them fight. They are amazing. They slaughtered a group of twenty goblins last night who tried to rob us on the way here.” Raz stated in awe.

            “Very well then, I shall go and watch them.” said the Dragon Lord as he put on his helm and left the Hall of Kings to join the carnage out side. Once outside the Dragon Lord marveled at how the Brothers Kelvin simply raised their swords and decimated four score of soldiers a piece with one swipe of their lightning charged swords.

            The battle was over shortly after noon. Reports were being received that the Dyjnni forces were retreating to the north. The Dragon Lord mourned for the dead as he saw the bodies of his fallen people littering the ground like sand on the beach.

            “Thank you for your help Brothers Kelvin and God speed you on your journey to meet the Renduits!” said the Dragon Lord as he finished handing Lao the order to commence a funeral ceremony to commemorate the fallen soldiers.

            “Sire, I request permission to join them so I may rejoin my master to bear him the news.” stammered Raz.

            “Very well Raz, go with them and bear the news to your master.” replied the Dragon Lord as he dismissed the Brothers Kelvin.

Reviews

[Hans von Lieven]

You write: They arrived in Randoa after riding all day and night long without incident. They arrived at the Adventurer's Inn in the center of town. The party was tired and needed the sleep desperately as did their horses from being pressed into a gallop the whole night.

This is well beyond the capabilities of any horse. Seeing that horses have a central place in your story it would pay you to do a bit of research into what horses can and cannot do. In fact it might help a lot with the story to do a bit of horse riding yourself and talk to "horsey' people.